


Dove's Awakening

by BlackPencilKitten



Series: PersonaShima [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Persona Awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 15:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11107923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackPencilKitten/pseuds/BlackPencilKitten
Summary: It started with a phone appThen he's fighting like a badassHis clothes changed to greyscale(Made him look ghostly-pale)Power he's never had beforeBut now he's kicking down Memento DoorsCause he's a Persona User





	Dove's Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Persona 5 young friend I'll be your writer  
> Persona User Mishima gives me life  
> Concept Art of Mishima's outfit has been made by the wonderful Kyrooti! Find it here:https://ruisturmli.deviantart.com/art/Mishima-Phantom-Theif-Outfit-698877111?ga_submit_new=10%3A1502768761

Jealousy was a bug that lived in his head, poking and prodding to make him feel what he tried to ignore. He wasn't a Phantom Thief, he never would be, he should leave things to the professionals. Become a Phantom Thief-that was _preposterous_ , he wasn't cool like them, he wasn't hurt to the extent as them, he didn't have the courage to stand up against corruption, albeit in a different way. Who cares, though, he runs the Phan-Site, helps give them requests to do when they have free time, that should be enough, right? He's supporting them, what else did he need? Power, fame, attention? Those were all greedy things, corrupted things, he didn't want to become someone who needed to be changed! Besides, being a Phantom Thief sounds dangerous, and there was no way he was putting his life on the line for 'attention'.

Jealousy was a bug that latched onto him and made itself comfortable, trying to trick him and shove him into places and situations he didn't need to be in. _Are you really going to settle for being just some side character, just a measly support for the higher ups? Why not do something about it? Why not ask if you could join them, if there is a way to contribute more than just a silly website. You'd be liked more-_

No, he wasn't going to fall for that. He wasn't being abused anymore, he had a website, he didn't need anything more. He already was helping them, it'd be selfish to ask to help _more_ , especially with them already being busy trying to stop Madarame. _Leave things to the professionals,_ he reminded himself again and again when Jealousy tried to tempt him, but no matter how many times he reminded himself, the thought was always in the back of his mind. _What if I could do something more?_

That thought pushed its way to the front, manifested itself into a desire, a desire that Jealousy latched onto before he could try to ignore it.

Jealousy was the one controlling his brain, the one that made him follow the gang to the train station under an umbrella. Dark grey clothing made him blend in easily to the shadows the storm provided, so he hid just around the corner from where they were. The rain made it hard to hear what they were saying, but thanks to Ryuji's loud voice, one word caught his attention.

'Mementos'.

A strange flash later and they were gone, vanishing into thin air. He moved to where they were and looked around, even heading into the train station itself, but they weren't there.

_Either they disappeared earlier and that was just a flashlight, or they traveled somewhere else._

_Somewhere on another plane._

That couldn't be possible, they weren't dead, they hadn't gone to someother place. But then, where _did_ they go?

Maybe he was just seeing things, and with that he returned home. Throwing his wet clothes into the washing machine to do later, he crawled under the covers of his bed and went to check the Phan-Site-

Only to find a strange black-and-red app on his phone.

His first thought was a virus, but he hadn't clicked on any adds or gone to any strange sites last that he knew. His history was full of the Phan-Site, and he had made that site secure, so how did the virus get in?

With a groan, he pulled up his settings and removed the intrusive app before checking the Phan-Site. The poll on there was jumping between 7 and 7.8 percent, as usual. After clearing away some of the trolls, he went back to the main screen-

And the app was back.

He tried removing it again, popping onto the Site before leaving immediately, and it was there again!

He had no other choice but to completely wipe his phone and reinstall everything, leaving his phone on the nightstand to do its work before continuing with his day.

_What if this app has something to do with the Phantom Thieves? What if this could let you join them, could give you power over the bullies that have harmed you? What if..._

No longer did Mishima try to fight these thoughts, instead letting them in freely.

Jealousy walked him back to the train station, and thankfully the gang wasn't there. Mishima was going to do the one thing you do not do when you get weird apps on your phone.

He was going to activate the app.

Pressing on it once, he was surprised to find the app talking. _Maybe it's a demonic version of Siri? But wasn't Siri already de-_

"Please insert the password." The app said, bringing up a string of small boxes to type a letter in, albeit in a limited amount.

Password? What kind of virusy-app was this, and why was he using it again?

_Because the thieves have more attention than you do, more courage, more power, and you won't stand by any longer._

"Please insert the password."

Jealousy recovered the memory of the word Ryuji had said, 'Mementos'. After mentally counting the letters, he realized the word was just the right amount of characters to put in the box.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard on his phone.

_Why do you hesitate? Why hesitate when this could be the key to fame, to power, to **safety?** You could finally fight back against those who have wronged you, no more do you have to be a coward. So why do you hesitate?_

"Please insert the-"

"Shut up!" He said to his phone, quickly typing in what he hoped was the password.

M-E-M-E-N-T-O-S

"Password accepted, traveling..."

Traveling, what did that mean? This wasn't a map app as far as he knew-

A sudden headache hit him, and the world around him began to warp. Clutching his head, he focused on the ground, which seemed to change the least, besides its...darkening color? It wasn't raining though-

The headache faded as fast as it had arrived, and he slowly looked up.

He was inside the station, but he had never entered it, he was outside it before. The walls and ticket cashiers were tainted red, and some black vein-like thing was taking over one of the station TVs, which was only showing static. The ticket gates had turned mostly black with only a hint of red, the ceiling black as well. The floor seemed the most normal, only tinted with red, though it looked more like pink.

What. The. Everloving. HELL?

"Destination reached." With those words the app on his phone turned to...a map? The blinking white arrow seemed to be him, and currently it only showed the room he was in. There wasn't a 'settings' button or anything that might help him leave, so it seemed he was stuck here for the time being.

_If we're stuck here, why not go down the stairs?_

Mishima nodded to himself before descending, aware of how everything screamed DANGER but too curious not to explore. That and Jealousy numbed everything.

When he descended the stairs, everything seemed to change again. Now everything was a tinted a dark blue, with what looked like _huge black splatters_ randomly placed on the wall. He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. Train tracks seemed to split off in two directions, and he decided to follow one, taking a left and then going straight. The only word he had to describe everything right now was 'interesting'.

It didn't take long before he found what seemed like a chest, and naturally he ran over to it and opened it. A small aquamarine gem was inside, strange for such a big chest to hold such a small item. Though it was pretty, and he was sure he could get some money for it. Tossing it a few times in the air and catching it, he put it in his pocket before following the train tracks yet again.

A short while later he found himself hiding behind a corner and peeking around it. A grotesque abomination was just a few feet away, a black, sludgy thing with what was either _skulls_ or _masks_ covering its top half. Unless the gem he found could kill it instantly, there was no way he was going to go near that thing, instead he retraced his steps back to the entrance and followed the tracks the other way. A few times he had to sneak by more of those 'abominations' but thankfully some had been asleep, making it easier to sneak by undetected. On the plus side, he found another chest, this time with a grooved silver coin and a copper one with a hole in it.

Interesting, very very interesting.

Jealousy walked him into a few dead ends, but in no time had he found a train platform and more stairs to go down. The strange app still didn't have anything to press that might lead him to freedom, and even after all that walking, he didn't feel tired at all. A very, very tiny voice locked up in a prison in his head told him not go down, but he didn't-couldn't listen as Jealousy descended the stairs with him.

He repeated what he did on the previous floor, sneaking past those Abominations and opening what chests he found. Soiled clothing, a gold coin, and another aquamarine gem he took from the chests, and as he explored this floor, he realized there wasn't another train platform. Instead he found himself face to face with what looked like a demonic portal, blackish red vein-like things swirling around it, the train tracks being bent and sucked in as well.

Any rational person knows never to go into weird ass portals but the phone still wouldn't let him leave, and what hesitation he had was quite literally shoved aside as Jealousy pushed him into the portal.

The new area he was in was a lot smaller, a singular place according to the app. The two tracks were uprooted at the end, and everything was a much lighter blue, though what could only be described as bright red tentacles were coming out of another portal at the end. Both walls had what looked like prison bars inside glassless windows.

The most unusual thing, however, was that there was another person there, their back to Mishima and dark shadows swirling around them, coming from a puddle under their feet.

He slowly walked towards them, head tilted in suspicious curiosity. When he was nearing them, they turned around, gold eyes staring at him.

Gold eyes, black hair, a white uniform-it was him! What looked like a demonic version of him, but him nonetheless! This was some seriously messed up human plagiarism!

"Ah, if it isn't the little site manager. I was wondering when you'd come and see me!" He said, clasping his hands in front of him.

"What kind of me are you and why are you here?" Mishima asked, stopping only a few feet in front of his...dark clone, who rolled his eyes and huffed.

"So the Mementos didn't tell you anything? Man we're naiver than I thought."

"WE?"

"Oh how rude of me, I should introduce myself, we're all about politeness, am I right? Anyway, I'm your Shadow, a personified version of your repressed feelings that lives here in the Mementos and is technically you, but not you, seeing as we're standing here as separate bodies." Shade said, holding a hand out to shake, which Mishima refused with a shake of the head.

"'Repressed emotions'? What are you talking about, I don't have repressed emotions!"

"Haha, that's what they all say. Well, what you say. You're the first-no matter that, you do have repressed emotions, if you didn't, I wouldn't be here. One of these 'repressed emotions' was that little bug that's controlling you, I believe it's called Jealousy."

"You say was, you say Jealousy is a Bug, nothing you're saying is making sense!"

"...Shit how much did it numb you? You know how you kinda fought against it at first because you didn't want to believe you were jealous of the Thieves, but then you stopped?"

"How the hell do you know that if you live in this Mementos place-"

"BECAUSE I AM YOU BUT ALSO NOT YOU SO I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!" Shade yelled, almost regretting it when Mishima winced. Mishima opened his mouth to speak, but Shade held out a hand to silence him."

"The little Jealousy you have that's lead you here? Me, but kinda not me, but still me because it was one of your repressed emotions. You still have more though. All of them against the Phantom Thieves."Mishima shook his head, he didn't feel like that, he was over it though.

"You're denying it right now, further proof of my existence. Why do you do it? _It won't go away until you accept it._ " Shade said, walking in slow circles around Mishima.

"Jealously controls you, because it's the mainstream emotion right now. The Phantoms have it so much better than you, they're liked more than you, even if it's by a small amount. They have the power to fix the bad in the world, that's what they did to ---------, didn't they?" He asked, tracing along the faded remains of a bruise on Mishima's neck. Mishima tensed up immediately, pushing Shade away.

"They're brave enough to fight against those who are taking advantage of poor, innocent people like you, who didn't deserve what Kamo----- did to them, who don't deserve some of the awful things that's happening to them. You want to fight with them, to be more than just some site manager, because they're cooler, braver, _better_ than you. That's why your jealous, it's right there in your face, but you still deny it." Shade said, stopping in front of and staring at him. Mishima shifted his gaze to the ground, hands balling into shaky fists.

"You're done just being 'there', for people to use you as a literal punching bag, as a way to get more requests that _they_ complete, that you can only give. Why just want to be more when you can _be_ more? I only exist because you can't accept your own feelings, and when you do, you'll be so much more than a site manager, than the punching bag, you can fight back against the people who hurt you and others! You don't have to just give requests, you can complete them yourself! Won't that be, how do you say it, fun?" Shade smiled at him, hands behind his back as Mishima looked at his own hands, then at Shade.

"I...I don't want to die though." Mishima admitted, rubbing one of his arms nervously.

"So you're going to let hundreds of others get damaged, physically, mentally, emotionally, even financially because you're scared for your own life? You're going to stand back like a coward and let others do the dirty work of standing up for themselves and others? Bit selfish, isn't it?" Shade said, raising his eyebrows.

"...N-"

"Oh my god just admit it we're going in circles here-" Shade began, eyebrows narrowing before Mishima interrupted him.

"YES!" Mishima shouted, staring at Shade with a newly awakened fire in his eyes. "Yes, it is selfish and cowardly for me to just stand here, for me to want something but make no effort to get it! I don't want to be like the thousands of bystanders out there, because it does nothing! By not doing anything, we're knowingly allowing this shit to happen, and, and I don't want to let that happen, but I already have let it happen! But I won't let it happen anymore, I'm done being a bystander, a part of the reason there's so much bad shit happening, I AM DONE! I'm not going to sit here just admiring the Phantom Thieves, just standing around wishing I could do more, do SOMETHING, because I can do something, I can stand up with them, I CAN HELP!"

Shade stared at him with the widest smile Mishima's ever seen and an actual _twinkle_ in his eyes. And his head felt a lot lighter now that he's gotten that off his chest.

"FINALLY we've gotten somewhere! So it's all settled then, you've known about your Jealousy and you've admitted it! Now the fun and super cool standing-up-and-kicking-butt stuff starts!"

"...What do you mean?"

"Why tell you when you can see for yourself! All we gotta do is make a deal, I join with you, we become one, you become awesome and Not Bystandery, what do you say?" With that Shade held out a hand to him.

"This gives off a lot of Gravi-"

"Shake my effin hand I'm not a demonic dorito I've literally been helping you with everything I've said _just shake my hand so cool shit can happen!_ " Shade begged, tapping his foot impatiently.

Any normal person knows not to make a deal with your Darkish Helpful Human Plagiarism-I mean Clone but he's already seen disgusting abominations running around how much more fucked up can it get?

Mishima grabbed Shade's hand and gave it a firm shake, and blue flames suddenly surrounded them, Mishima shutting his eyes as he felt power surge through him, a light sensation that made his skin tingle, like it was being touched by feathers. Or maybe that was the fire, but that was some pretty light fire, not to mention it didn't hurt so much as feel strange. However, his head felt like it actually was on fire as a voice entered it.

_You've stood by as others get hurt, and you've let others defend them. But what if they never did? Would you continue to let others suffer, too scared to fight yourself? At last, you've admitted and accepted this fact, and have made the choice to change it. I am thou, thou art I, and no longer will you hide. Peace cannot be achieved until suffering can end, and you must fight to end it. Lets end it once and for all, and let the branches of change reach into the hearts of those who've wronged you and everyone else!_

Once he felt the flames disappear and the pain subsided, he opened his eyes.

Everything looked the same, and he was about to regret all his choices up to now before he heard a swoosh and looked down and _oh shit what happened to his clothes?_

Mid-calf light grey boots replaced his usual shoes, dark grey jeans leading into them. A long-sleeved white shirt not unlike his uniform was underneath a dark grey collared jacket-trenchcoat? It looked long enough to be a trenchcoat-wait no, not long enough, it was a jacket. His hands were now being covered by light grey gloves and he brought one to his face, taking off the mask that was there and flipping it around. A dove mask, oddly appealing.

After putting his mask back on, he felt along his back, feeling a wooden object and grabbed it, holding it in front of him. It was a wooden staff with a twisted head, nothing special. He swung it around a few times, amazed at how natural it felt to use it. Taking a running start, he tried and succeeded to vault a short distance. This was fun! The staff was soon back on his back, this time a sniper rifle in his hands. He focused on one of the metal bars in the glassless windows and fired, pleased when it hit. A final check showed that he had a grappling hook too, and he tried it on the ceiling, letting out a yelp once he was pulled up. Slowly lowering himself back down, he put the grappling hook away, before bursting into a fit of giggles and hopping on his feet.

THIS WAS SO COOL!

His phone buzzed and he checked it, the map on the app was now blinking. Pressing it, it pulled up a message. 'Head back to the entrance.' Was it telling him how to get out now? Sweet, although he kinda wanted to check out his new gear some more, but he could do that later.

He approached the portal once again, but stopped in front of it. Something sounded strange, it sounded like-A BUS-

Jumping to the side, a huge bus exited the portal, four people leaving the bus as it turned into a cat-like monster. Were these the Phantom Thieves? They looked even cooler! From what he could tell, Akira, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Ann were there, and the cat must be Morgana. They all looked so BADASS-but why were there so many _zippers_ on Ann's outfit?

"His shadow should be right ahead-wait, where was it?"

Oh, OH, OH NO. They were looking for his shadow, which he just so happened to have accepted mere moments ago, this was bad! Without hesitation he jumped back through the portal.

 

"It was supposed to be right here, the Metanav said so!" Panther exclaimed, looking around the area.

"Do you think the Metanav messed up? It is a phone app, maybe this is a glitch." Skull said, crossing his arms.

"The Metanav is never wrong! I may not know much, but I do know that!" Mona walked around the place, searching for any sign of the shadow.

Joker looked down at the app, eyes widening when he saw the exclamation mark of their target _moving._ Fox looked over his shoulder at the phone, then up at Joker, and they locked eyes before nodding together.

"It appears that our target is on the run, a new challenge." Fox remarked, and the others crowded around the phone to see for theirself.

"This is new-ALRIGHT WE GOT NO TIME TO WASTE LETS MOVE IT!" Mona shouted, before turning back into a bus as the others climbed in before driving through the portal.

 

Mishima didn't even have to look at the map to know where the stations were, easily making his way to one and heading up to the first floor of the Mementos. However, the memories of this floor weren't clear, and he in his panic he ran smack into one of the abominations. Scooting back and standing up, he readied his staff as the thing turned into two Slimes.

He ran at one and smacked it with his staff, knocking its health down to half, but both of them attacked at once, dealing a third of his own health. Shrugging off the damage and pulling out his sniper rifle, he aimed and fired, killing one of the Slimes.

"Alright, whoo hoo!"

His victory was short lived, however, when the remaining Slime attacked again, knocking him off his feet and attacking again. His health was falling low, but he got back on his feet, breathing heavily.

_Call upon my power, and the remains of your enemy will be blown away!_

He already knew his name before he even said it, raising his staff upward.

"FINISH THEM OLIVER!"

A pale green treant appeared behind him, whipping at the remaining Slime and taking it out with one hit of his wind-aligned branches.

Once the Slime faded away, Mishima collected the money that dropped from it, putting it in his pocket where his previous treasures also were.

The rev of a bus was dangerously close, and he quickly started running, phone in his face as he tried to follow the map. He barely missed another one of the abominations-Shadows? Something told him they were also Shadows, but before he could ponder on that any longer, he found himself face to face with a huge stone door, chains wrapped around it. Without thinking, he smacked it with his staff, surprised when it actually opened. He ran aside-but it was just a huge room.

The bus was catching up to him, even beeping at him, and he shot his grappling hook onto the ceiling, letting it pull himself up. With some careful maneuvering, he hid himself behind a pillar while still holding onto the ceiling, feet scrambling at the pillar for purchase.

Stopping in the middle of the room, the Thieves quickly left Mona as he transformed back into his usual form, practically whispering between each other before Mona spoke up.

"He couldn't have gone far, check every nook and cranny of this room!"

Mishima held his breath as he heard footsteps near him, holding onto the ceiling with both of his hands. The one known as Fox walked around his pillar, checking his phone almost every second and looking around. Mishima's arms were quickly getting weak, legs tiring out even faster from trying to get a grip on the pillar. His pockets shuffled, and he almost gasped when he saw a gold coin fall out and hit the ground below.

Thankfully, Fox didn't hear the noise as he was focused on his phone, still looking around.

Sadly, disaster hit as not just one, but BOTH of his aquamarine gems fell out and hit Fox SMACK on the top of his head.

Fox felt the top of his head, curling his fingers around the things on top and inspecting them before looking around yet again, before moving his gaze upward and right at Mishima, whose legs were now dangling, too worn out from his failed pillar climbing.

Instead of calling out that he had found their target, he held out his arms to catch Mishima if he decided to let go. With his arms soon to be tiring out like his legs had already done, he had no choice but to let go, closing his eyes and covering his mouth so he didn't scream. He landed right in Fox's arms, latching onto his jumpsuit and shaking with fear as Fox tilted his head at him, and mouth 'Mishima?', who could only nod in response, weakly smiling. Fox let out a soft chuckle before Mona's voice rang throughout the room once again.

"Alright everyone, regroup at the center with your findings!"

Fox remained where he was, leaning against the pillar as the others gathered at the center, Mishima giving him a confused look.

"Status report, Skull?"

"Found nothin."

"Panther?"

"I didn't find him either."

"Joker?"

Joker shook his head as Mona sighed.

"Fox? Fox, where are you anyway?"

Fox put Mishima's gems into his pocket before slowly walking around the pillar to meet with the rest.

"I have failed to find a shadow, but I did catch a falling bird." He remarked, holding Mishima out to them, who couldn't help but shiver as the others crowded around them, their masks making them all the creepier.

"Wait, is it really-"

"Damn, it really is!"

"This is a welcome change-"

"You're a persona user too? But we can't have Shadows, how did you do it?" Mona asked from his place on Skull's shoulder. Mishima only zipped up his collar before holding onto Fox again, too stunned to talk to them.

"It appears we have scared him after chasing him around. Why don't we head back and discuss all this over a bowl of curry, hm?" Fox suggested, holding Mishima closer so he wouldn't have to face the others much longer.

"You're only askin cause you're outta money again, aren't ya?"

"Skull, you can't just say things like that!" Panther said, but Fox only chuckled.

"...That is only part of the reason, but yes."

"Well then lets go, we don't have any other requests and I'm starvin!" Skull said, Mona giving a confused look to Mishima before jumping off Skull and turning back into a bus. Everyone climbed inside, Fox letting Mishima down so he could climb in after them. Joker and Panther sat up front, as Fox, Mishima and Skull took the back.

"Sorry to ask you so suddenly after all the shock, but what's your codename? I'm Skull, you were held by Fox, Joker's drivin and Panther's in the other front seat." Skull explained, resting his arms behind him and laying his head against them. Mishima slowly unzipped his collar, if only to speak for a second until they arrived back at the real world.

"Dove. I-I'm Dove."

 

 


End file.
